Russian Cargo Space Ship could be Falling To Earth after contact was lost as it headed towards International Space Station

An uncrewed Russian spacecraft meant to resupply the International Space Station appears to have suffered a malfunction shortly after launch Russia's space agency said that it lost communication with the spacecraft 383 seconds into the flightThere have been reports of an explosion in the skies over Tuva around the time the spacecraft vanished  It comes after a Progress cargo ship launch failed in April 2015

Russia's space agency said it lost contact with an unmanned cargo ship 383 seconds after it blasted off for the International Space Station.

The ship, which was scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Saturday, was carrying 2.4 tonnes of fuel, food and equipment when it took off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft could already be falling to Earth if a malfunction occurred while the spacecraft was still executing its third stage burn.

There have been reports of an explosion in the skies over Tuva around the time the spacecraft vanished.

'Communication was lost today 383 seconds after the launch of the Soyuz-U carrier rocket with the cargo ship Progress MS-04,' space agency Roscosmos said in a statement, adding that its specialists were looking into the problem.

It comes after a Progress cargo ship launch failed in April 2015.

The failure, which Russia blamed on a problem in a Soyuz rocket, saw the ship disintegrate as it plummeted to Earth.

The incident saw Russia put all space travel on hold for nearly three months and forced a group of astronauts to spend an extra month on the ISS.

Russia said at the time that because the same type of rocket is used for manned ships, all issues with Progress resupply missions needed to be thoroughly investigated before any manned vessels could be launched.

Russia sends three or four such spacecraft every year to supply the ISS.

After making their delivery, they plummet back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.

Last month Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and American astronaut Peggy Whitson launched to the ISS for a six-month mission.

The launch followed that of Russians Andrei Borisenko and Sergei Ryzhikov and American Shane Kimbrough in October, which was pushed back by nearly a month due to technical issues.

Technical mishaps have complicated plans to extend the periods during which the ISS is fully staffed with six astronauts.

Russia's Soyuz capsules offer the only way for global astronauts to reach the space station since the American space shuttle program was retired in 2011.

The space laboratory, where a range of research is carried out, has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,000 miles per hour) since 1998.